


of love and dreams to share

by bluemoontide



Series: a hundred thousand words [2]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M, also it's the angst-free sequel that no one asked for!, pure festive fluff, so if you don't know the truth about the big guy in red, some discussion of santa, u were warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 22:32:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17150291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemoontide/pseuds/bluemoontide
Summary: Operation Ho is devised in the Virtue-Moir household.





	of love and dreams to share

**Author's Note:**

> ...I'm sure this is filled with errors. Also I'm sorry for all those who don't celebrate Christmas, but I really had to get his out of my system. Enjoy!

The first Christmas they had with Maisie Catherine was a whirlwind of activity. They were rarely home for four hours put together, and always on the move. Maisie was only 9 months old at the time and barely even crawling yet, so Tessa and Scott just sort of went where their family summoned them, slotting into established traditions wherever they could. It was a practical experiment on what worked and didn’t work for Christmas with their baby.

The second Christmas with Maisie was a complete write-off. A very nasty flu bug tore through the entire household, and hardly any of the Virtue-Moir clan saw the light of day until New Year’s, much to their family’s dismay.

The third Christmas with Maisie is their first real shot at making a plan and following through with it. Just in time too since it’s the first Christmas that Maisie will really appreciate and remember. Also Tessa is ten weeks along with baby number two, and she and Scott both agreed that it was better to start establishing their own traditions before welcoming another human into the barely organized chaos of major holidays in their family.

The first hurdle is where and when. Where Christmas Eve would be, where they’d do Christmas morning, where they would open presents from Grandma and Grandpa, and when they’d see which family members. After it was decided that they would like a quiet morning at home rather than trying to travel or spend a night away, a very heated debate about whether or not gift opening was best before or after breakfast broke out.

Once that was sorted (with a compromise naturally: Santa presents first, and then fueling up with coffee and carbs before diving in for round two), the debate of wrapping presents followed. Tessa was firmly _for_ wrapping Santa gifts as they have always done in the Virtue home with the argument of drawing out the anticipation. Scott was firmly _against_ wrapping Santa gifts with the argument that there is nothing better than seeing everything all laid out and ready to play with, adding to the magic of the moment.

Tessa could never resist his romantic ideologies, so she gave in with the stipulation that the stockings must be done _last_ and one item at a time. Scott agreed easily and they moved on.

The logistics of _how_ came to light as they sat up in bed a week before Christmas.

It was decided that they would tag-team the Santa duties: tackle it as a team just with everything else they’ve done. Scott volunteers to nibble the end of the carrot for the reindeer, and Tessa nobly resigns herself to eating Santa’s share of the cookies.

“It’s going to have to be right after she goes down for the night…” Scott proposes as Tessa rubs the last of her moisturizer over her elbows.

“Is it because I’ve been useless in the morning with this morning sickness?” She sighs in response.

Scott chuckles softly and pats her still flat belly, “well maybe. But I was thinking more that Maisie didn’t inherit your fondness of sleeping in as much as possible and if she’s anything like I was—”

“And she will be, like she is with _everything else.”_

“—then she will probably be up every 10 minutes asking to go down for presents starting at four AM.”

Tessa’s face falls. “Seriously?”

Scott nods solemnly.

Tessa falls back onto her pillows with a groan. Scott follows her laughing.  
“You won’t be like them, will you baby?” She pleads to her unborn child. “You’ll take after your mommy, right?”

Scott kisses her belly and hangs over it as he speaks, “and maybe you’ll teach your big sister better too?”

“What’dd do?” Maisie’s gentle, lispy voice inquires from the doorway.

The two of them sit up at the appearance of their almost-three-year-old.

“You didn’t do anything Maycat! Did you have a bad dream?” Scott asks.

Maisie shakes her sleep-flushed face, “just woke up.”

The two share a glance. It never fails to astonish them that their daughter ended up being both so restless like her Mom and still wake up at the crack of dawn like her Dad; mysteriously inheriting both of her parents’ very different sleeping patterns. She naps like a champ in the afternoons though, so neither Tess or Scott will complain too much.

Tessa sits up a little more. “Do you want Mommy to take you back to bed?”

Maisie just nods and Tessa crosses the room in a flash.

Scott’s never seen her leave her bed so readily until their daughter came into their life. He loves Tessa so much more for it.

Tessa scoops Maisie up and the toddler instantly snuggles against her mother’s shoulder. Scott winces a little, feeling like he should dissuade Tessa from carrying their nearly thirty pound child, but he has to trust that she knows her own limits. Tessa winks at him over her shoulder. He seriously doubts that she missed his whole body flinch at her actions, but they both know Maisie won’t be this small for much longer, so he leaves it alone.

Scott’s half asleep when Tessa returns half an hour later and pulls herself tight against his back.

“I had to sing _Rudolph_ fourteen times before she settled.”

Scotts snorts.

She yawns against him. “She’s definitely ready for Christmas. I just hope we are. ‘Night Scotto Claus.”

He can’t help but smile as his hand finds hers under the duvet, “Goodnight Santa Tess.”

She’s already asleep.

* * *

Christmas Eve has finally arrived, and the day has been beyond hectic. They’ve been all over the greater London-Ilderton area and have seen every relative in a sixty kilometer radius. Maisie is exhausted, and falls asleep on their way home as they weave through the nearby neighbourhoods to admire the light displays.

Once they’re in their driveway, Tessa drops the car into park but leaves the engine idling to stave away the chill of the damp winter air.

“Okay Moir, step one in Operation Ho: are you ready?”

“I’m ready, T.”

He focused up a bit after leaving his parents’ house, but she’d be a little bit more confident in him if he was a beer or two closer to sober.

“If I take Maisie up to bed, so you think you can haul all these Santa gifts into the house without making too much noise?”

The presents were recovered from their hiding place in Joe Moir’s garage prior to their dinner tonight and loaded into the trunk of the SUV as stealthily as possible. Maisie was distracted by her cousins at the time and she’s such a smart girl they knew they needed to pull out all the stops to make this Christmas as magical as possible.

Scott nods with confidence. “Yes. I’ve got this.”

“Okay, that’s good because I am _exhausted_ and I want to get into bed as soon as I can. Especially if you’re right about Maisie and she has us all up before dawn.”

Scott laughs and Tessa glares.

“You laugh now, Scott," she warns. "But it’s tough work growing a human.”

He raises his hands in surrender, but his expression softens as he lowers them. “You can go to bed now, y’know. You don't have to do this. I can be the solo-Santa—”

“No. We’re in this thing together remember?”

He nods. “Together.”

She sticks her hand out for him, and he rests his palm over her knuckles. She places her other hand on his, and he finishes the stack with his left hand, their Christmas lights glinting warmly off the gold band on his ring finger.

“On the count of three?” She offers. He nods.

“One—”

“Two—”

“Three—”

Then they shout together, “ _Ho!”_

Maisie stirs from the back seat. “Mommy? Daddy? S’Santa here?”

Tessa’s hands fly to her mouth and she looks at Scott helplessly. He in return is trying—and failing—not to laugh in her face.

“No baby,” he coos from the passenger seat once he composes himself a little, “he won’t come until you go to bed. Are you ready Maycat?”

Maisie nods and rubs her eyes. Tessa is very grateful for Scott’s genius idea to dress her in her pyjamas before they left Alma and Joe’s: it should make the transition to bed easier on all of them.

She unclips her daughter from the carseat and notes smugly that Maisie is already slumping back to sleep in Tessa’s arms. Her portion of the heist should be no problem.

Tessa gives Scott a dorky thumbs up before retreating into the house. She catches him shaking his head and laughing before she's inside, and feels very proud that her antics can still make him laugh like that.

 _It’s Ho time_ she thinks, giggling to herself as she climbs the staircase.

* * *

It’s the car wash that nearly does her in. Scott’s idea for a Santa gift was a standing dollhouse. Tessa would be lying if she said it wasn’t something she dreamed of having when she was a kid. All wooden furniture and warm textiles, and standing almost as tall as Maisie, it was custom made by a friend of Joe’s in Ilderton just for their daughter...and it is beautiful.

Tessa agreed to it, but insisted that they balance it out with something less traditionally feminine. Thus: cars. The car wash/car park toy has a built in elevator and two spiral tracks that lead up to the covered platform on top. It _also_ has so many small and apparently crucial pieces it has Tessa’s eyes crossing.

“It looks good to me,” Scott says over his shoulder after rearranging the small wooden dolls inside the house for the third time in twenty minutes, searching for the ideal presentation.

“You could help me you know.”

“I did! I put the roof on!”

“ _Scott!”_

“Okay, okay I’m coming!” He shuffles over on his knees and Tessa tries not to laugh at the ridiculous sight of a grown man scooting across the floor in his goofy Christmas pyjamas. After examining the toys for precisely thirteen seconds, Scott sits back on his haunches and throws his hands up.

“Honestly T, I think it’s done!”

“What about _this?”_ She asks, holding up a loose section of the track.

“Maybe just a spare?”

Tessa huffs at him.

“T look, everything is amazing! The stockings are done, the toys are ready to play with...the kid is going to _love_ it! We can always look at improving things tomorrow morning...after some sleep.”

Tessa nearly moans at the prospect.

“I think you mean later today,” Tessa says instead, holding up her phone.

“Tess! It’s Christmas! Merry Christmas, baby!” He says pulling her in for a sloppy but enthusiastic kiss that has her smiling through it.

“Merry Christmas, Scott.” She echos, pulling him back in for a much better kiss.

When she pulls away she smacks her lips together a few times. “Did you have egg nog?”

“Yeah!” He says brightly. “My first glass had rum in it, but this one is clear. You should have some! It’s Christmas!”

Tessa pulls a face, “I dunno if the baby wants that.” She pats her stomach cautiously.

“Okay but T, I know _you_ love egg nog.”

“I do,” she whines.

“Then just have a sip!” He says, holding his glass out for her.

“Okay,” she concedes, “what harm could it do, right?”

Scott nods and she takes the glass.

She sniffs it, but that may have been a mistake. As the rich, spicy smell fills her nostrils, she’s hit with a wave of nostalgia and brings the brim gingerly to her lips ready to savour the first sip. Then she freezes. Scott watches her with wide eyes as she feels the blood drain from her cheeks. She shoves the glass back to him and springs to her feet.

“Oh no, are you gonna—”

“Nope! It’s fine. It’s passing.” She takes a few deep breaths and smooths out her pyjama shirt just to have something to do. “It’s fine,” she says with a forced calm.

“Oka—” he starts, but doesn’t finish. Before he can, she’s running to the bathroom under the stairs.

Scott appears at her side a minute or two after, having mercifully disposed of the offending beverage. He sinks to the bathroom floor beside her and does his best to rub her back from the angle he’s at.

“I’m chalking this up to morning sickness, T. It is _technically_ the morning.”

Tessa groans into the toilet bowl by way of response.

“I think we can officially call it a day on _Operation Ho.”_

She flushes the toilet and slumps against him. He strokes her clammy forehead and does his best to push the hair away from her face.

“Consider it called,” she agrees. “This is terrible. Who’s idea was it anyway?”

“...God’s?”

Tessa can’t help but laugh weakly at that, “not _Christmas_ Scott. This kid. The parasite. Who thought this was a good idea?”

“Uh, that would be you my dear.”

She sighs. “I know.”

He kisses her head so softly she could cry.

“Can you take me to bed now?”

He laughs quietly and tucks his hands under her knees and around her back. Without saying another word he picks her up and makes his away over to the stairs, flicking off as many overhead lights as he can along the way.

Deep down she knows it’s not strictly necessary for him to carry her at this point, but she’s definitely not going to be the one to say something about it.

* * *

Christmas morning comes with the best surprise. Maisie Catherine sleeps in. In fact, Tessa is the first one awake at 6:15 in the morning, and stirs her very surprised husband with all the glee of a toddler on, well, Christmas morning.

“It’s Christmas!” She says shaking his arm.

He offers her a bleary smile, “It is.”

“Oh my gosh, should we wake Maisie up now or wait?”

“We can do whatever you want, T.”

“Well—”

“Mommy! Daddy!  _Christmas!"_ Maisie declares, sprinting into their room and clambering up the mattress to join them. Tessa couldn’t have dreamt of a better way to start the morning, especially since her little spell last night seems to have diverted her usual morning sickness.

It’s nothing but a blur of excitement from there.

After all the presents are done, and the wrapping paper is collected and taken out, the three of them lay in a heap on the couch sometime around noon.

Maisie lays between them sleeping, clutching her new stuffed animal (a gray tabby dubbed Mika, some variation of Maycat). Scott plays with Tessa’s hair and she sighs contentedly.

“What do you think, T? Should we keep up the tradition?”

“Yes. I think we solved it, Moir. It was a perfect morning.”

“I’m glad,” he replies warmly. “Did you get everything you wanted?”

Tessa can’t help but laugh. “This is going to be really cheesy, are you ready?”

He grins so widely, his response of _yes_ is a little redundant.

She places one hand on her belly, and one hand on Maisie’s cheek. She kisses him softly and says right against his lips, “I already have everything I want.”

He laughs and groans and kisses her back firmly like he’s trying bury her corny confession with his kiss, but she knows he feels the same.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas!!!


End file.
